I am working on some place mats for my son and his family. My daughter-in-law's grandmother passed away a few years ago, and her sewing machine and all the accompanying stuff passed to my daughter-in-law. She doesn't sew, so she gave me a lot of the trims and such. She gave me a beautiful piece of fabric without asking me to do anything with it. I decided to do the place mats so there will be my work and the grandmother's and great-grandmother's fabric. Something for Mike, Andrea, and the kids.
Now for my tip. I have a rather unorthodox way of attaching bias tape to some items. I just insert the fabric into the fold and stitch it down. Since the place mats are oval shaped, I was having trouble holding them flat and in place. I bought a box of the little plastic paper clips, and they are working just fine. I just stitch a ways and remove them. They are much less expensive than the quilting clips.
By Marty Dick from Houston, TX
This page contains the following solutions.
This, as with most of my tips was born of necessity. I am too old to be crawling around on the floor with a flashlight trying to retrieve straight pins that I have dropped.
I go through a large number of paper clips while making my 'Everything Journals' or Omni Journals. Because I like to keep a lot of different items in my journals, many times I will use large paper clips. Keeping them accessible helps me in my creative process and the paper clips stay in better condition.
This is a page about craft uses for paper clips. Paper clips can be used for all sorts of crafts.
